Thursday, November 22, 2012

Thanksgiving: The gift that keeps on giving

“In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1Thessalonians 5:18

There is much talk today about the
will of God and those of us who really love the Lord and are called according
to His purpose can simplify our lives by heeding the word of the Lord in this
verse.

So, do you want to be in the will
of God? Then begin by giving thanks in
everything. Over the years many writers have encouraged us to ‘make our
thanksgiving thanks-living’. What an awesome way to end 2012. We can do this,
‘yes we can’ because we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

God in his infinite wisdom knew
that we’d be living in tumultuous times.
God knew that job and housing losses, relationship challenges, black Friday
frenzy, closed doors, haters, issues of the soul, moral depravity, deception, lawlessness,
disappointment and doubt would beset us as we approach 2013. God knew that the events described in Matthew
24 would play out in the headlines right before our eyes. That is one of the
many reasons I love our awesome, mighty, powerful, loving God so much. Our God loves us so much that He gives us the
prescription long before the dis-ease even shows up. The Great Physician
prescribes preventive medicine. Take note; He says ‘in everything give thanks’. Wonder what our lives would be like this
holiday season if we just committed to obeying that word.

Thanksgiving
magnifies God

Let me paint a brief picture for you. In Psalms 69:30 David connects thanksgiving
with magnifying God and that’s great news considering how huge our
circumstances can loom before us. I don’t know about you but if all I have to
do is give thanks to make my God bigger than my rent when my job lays me off ,
that’s what I am willing to do.

Thanksgiving
is the gateway to God’s presence

In Psalms 100:4 the psalmist tells
us to ‘enter into His gates with thanksgiving’.
In Psalm 16 and Psalm 91 he says
in God’s presence is fullness of joy and security. Then in Philippians 4:6-7 the writer Paul
connects thanksgiving with peace. If I
follow the biblical prescription to the letter then I will consistently give
thanks no matter what. My thanksgiving
will gain me entrance into His gates. That makes me an insider and when trouble
comes my way my God will be so large that all I will see is Him.
That gives me yet another reason to thank Him and it also stirs up my
praise so I can get into his courts, draw even closer to Him. In his presence
is fullness of joy. The closer I get to
Him the safer I feel.

Thanksgiving
guards our peace

That safety or security is grounds
for more thanksgiving, more praise. I
never shut down my thanksgiving and He delivers me out of all my fears. He even gives me irrefutable evidence of His
ever present help in time of trouble---A
thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it
shall not come near you. (Psalm
91:7) I can’t help but thank and praise
Him. He’s so worthy.

I love also that He tells us to clothe our
petitions and prayers in thanksgiving. Thanksgiving has to be our ever present
attitude. He doesn’t want us to be anxious or fretting in any regard. (Philippians 4:6) If we’re practicing thanks-living our prayers will be
full of expectation and we will be content with whatever state we find
ourselves in.

That’s
peace.

That’s
being at ease.

That’s
a divinely healthy way to live.

I cannot encourage us enough to
choose thanksgiving as a 24-7 preoccupation in every season. We’ll all be glad we did.

Followers

About Me

Teirrah McNair is a dedicated people builder, author and the former Associate Pastor at God's Hand Extended Christian Fellowship in Dublin, California. McNair is on a mission to equip her audience
with well crafted strategies for successful living. Many of those strategies
are included in her rapidly growing list of book titles published by Soul
Shaping Publications. Her books and blogs live at www.bencouraged.net and at Amazon www.amazon.com/Teirrah-McNair/e/B0076ZX7W0